The World of Sunyata

The introduction of magic

In the 23rd century, magic was violently introduced to the Earth. Hordes of monsters - dragons, spirits, and demons - found a path to our world and quickly overwhelmed it. Human weapons and technology could not match the demons’ advanced magic. The invasion quickly became an extermination, while only remnants of humanity survived in hiding.

After decades of being hunted, the first human mages emerged, commanding fire, ice, and water. They had discovered the source of magic, a foreign physical substance called the Ahura. The Ahura connects the mind to matter akin to how the mind connects to the body. With sufficient understanding of the material, the mind can move or manipulate it as if it were the mage’s own hands.

Few records of the ensuing war remain. The heroes that defeated the demons were lost to history. What is known is that the development of nature magic was a turning point in the war, and it was the faeries that first allied with humans to teach them how to manipulate organic matter. This rapidly accelerated humanity’s development and culminated in a final battle that ended the demon occupation.

The next century shaped the very surface of the world. Mages migrated to lands that suited their speciality. Fire mages erected a massive volcano and named their nation Pompei to honor the danger of their power. Water mages controlled the coasts of the Americas. Electric mages, and those who saw magic’s potential in technology, created large industrial cities in Europe and northern Africa. The faeries, worried about the displacement of wildlife, built a massive forest in the center of Africa, manipulating the trees to become sentient and act as caretakes of nature.